If PM Narendra Modi wants to realise 'Swach Bharat' dream, he must begin with central government offices

A peep into various sarkari toilets shows that only some ministries, and that too in sections used by ministers and top officials, have swanky washrooms.

NEW DELHI: Cleanliness, like charity, must begin at home. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to realise his dream of a clean, stinkfree India, he must begin with central government offices. A peep into various sarkari toilets shows that only some ministries, and that too in sections used by ministers and top officials, have swanky washrooms, but on the floors used by lesser mortals, it is a story of stinking unclean toilets.

In the vast Paryavaran Bhavan, which houses the ministries of housing, drinking water and sanitation, environment and forests, minority affairs, among other government offices, the stench from a washroom adjacent to an under-secretary’s office is unbearable. The staircase is laden with waste and walls are smeared with betel-nut spit, but what troubles a visitor the most is the overwhelming smell of urine.

Incidentally, this is where the proposal for Swach Bharat, Modi’s mega plan to build 400 million toilets in India before 2019, is being visualised.

“What to do? It has always been like that. It has worsened in the past few months ever since many offices are being shifted here. There is not enough staff to clean the toilets,” says an under-secretary working here. A lot of unused construction material lies discarded in many of the washrooms of the 12-floored building that houses many other government offices. To restrict the number of unclean toilets, many functional ones are kept locked. A toilet here in the first floor has decent-level of maintenance but is for ‘officers only’.

At Shastri Bhavan, maintained by CPWD, toilets in ministries of information and broadcasting, HRD, law, culture, women and child development, mines have recently-renovated washrooms and are relatively better but the ones in adjacent Krishi Bhavan, where departments of fertilisers, agriculture, rural development statistics and others are located, cleaners are hardly seen. The toilet for women in the agriculture department has not been cleaned for days and is kept locked to control the stench.

Even in Shastri Bhavan, the quality of the toilets deteriorates as one inspects the lower floors. Leaking washbasins seem to be a common sight and naphthalene balls are strewn around to reduce the stench.

“There is special caretaker for the top floors which has offices of ministers and secretaries. The ones in the first two floors have blockage problems every now and then. Even in clean toilets, the exhaust has been unscientifically placed to retain the stink. It gets worse in the afternoon,” said an employee in the Ministry of Mines.

Employees here are tight-lipped about work in the government, but everyone is eager to talk about how badly toilets are maintained. Modi’s strict orders to keep offices clean have been welcomed and people working here have followed orders of discarding old files, papers and rusted fans. But the washrooms continue to stink.